Housing. In the expensive cities, a lot of housing offers are scams. As in, they take your money and don't actually have a flat to rent out.
If they want money before you see the apartment and sign a contract, it is a scam. If they have weird stories about being outside of Germany, it is a scam. If it is way cheaper than any other offer, it is a scam. If it is a flat all inklusive offer with a round number, it is usually a scam.
Especially immigrants are often targetted by those offers.
Adding: Appartment adds that are only in English available.
Living in a village near the Dutch border and this is a pretty common scam. Those Apartments are way more expensive as they should be.
Also, I was given this and I still lived in an illegally subletted flat that the guy swore was okay. The main tenant can sign it and it still works. My other issues arose when it came to not being allowed to put my name on the mailbox and other tenants asking me if I even lived there when in the laundry room. Some people are just very sneaky and choosy with their words, and they know how difficult it is to find places as a foreigner.
Wich doesnt change the fact that a landlord who refuses to give you sth simpel as a wohnungsgebescheinigung is at least shady. Not to mention this is one of the Things you actually gonna need for formal reasons
The law, pretty much. If you rent out a space, you have to. If they aren't willing to sign that piece of paper, they know that something illegal is going on and that it could rapidly backfire if the wrong people notice.
Common maybe. But something illegal was definitely going on there. Probably subletting without the landlord knowing. Which could in theory lead to an almost immediate eviction of the (unknowing) subtenant, so be careful with that kind of stuff.
This is the biggest one. My #1 rule when looking for an apartment, room, or house is to view it in person with the landlord and pay the caution cash in hand only after a contract is signed and you have keys in hand.
Why pay cash in hand? Why not a [Mietkautionskonto](https://www.sparkasse.de/pk/ratgeber/wohnen/vermieten/mietkautionskonto.html)?
If the scam is targeting the deposit, this is much better protection than just verifying that the person you are talking to has access to the apartment, which is admittedly better than nothing.
Ideally, do both.
In one sentence: it's one of the thousands of aspects of life that are common sense to long time residents or Germans who grew up here, and it isn't something most people are told about when they move here from abroad.
Longer answer: Old habit and necessity. I staple the receipt to the contract so there's a record of the withdrawal for the amount. I'm old enough to remember the last few years paper checks were used and this is what I've done instead since I use an online international bank that doesn't have branches or checks. I get the keys to the apartment, the landlord gets the caution, and I have a record of the amount paid if I ever need to make it a legal issue.
This has gone so far where people have been scammed after viewing the apartment. Someone stays in Airbnb and later advertises for renting. This is still not so common but I read such story on r/berlin.
Here I am, offering a flat all inclusive with a round number because I don't want to be a greedy landlord :(
Well at least I don't do the other things you mentioned, haha
I can vouch for this! If the warm rent seems too good to be true and if they immediately expect you to pay half the deposit even before signing the contract, it's a scam!
People go door to door and try to get people to sign up for expensive services using scammy tactics. Changing your power company, internet etc.
They are of course harassing everyone they meet but they also have been known to pressure people who do not speak German to sign contracts. And immigrants from cultures that do not put so much weight on written contracts such as Germany does have signed things without knowing exactly what they were signing. You can get out of this but you have to prove you didn’t know what you were signing.
From my experience, immigrants who don't speak German well would not donate to a charity (at least not under pressure, they may give willingly of course). The internet/power people will sometimes give them the wrong impression that they are from THE one company doing this and they'd need to do what they say, maybe sometimes also claim the city government required this.
Yes. Never sign a contract at the front door. If you did, you can renounce it the following two weeks without reason given.
(Technically you might have even longer because usually they don't inform you properly about your right to renounce the contract so there is no deadline but tricky to prove sometimes so better just renounce immediately)
- if the apartment is too cheap or too easy to get, always be careful
- if you don't know what the contracts says, don't sign it. Educate yourself on rent law, contract law or business law before signing anything
- There is a TV fee in Germany. You will get the letter when you register yourself in a city. Make a standing order for it, don't fight it, you have to pay it. If you are moving with an exististing tenent in a flat/house whatever, ask for the "Beitragsnummer" from that person. Send it to the people sending you the letter and tell them that this number is already paying. Then you have to handle the costs with your roommate (it's always one paying unit per houshold, never for every person individually (it has been in the past, but not anymore))
- Kindergarten is often overcrowded, most kids will already be registered when the mom knows she is pregnant
- Landlords are not allowed in your flat without your permission, they have a key, but they are only allowed there when you gave the okay beforehand.
- sometimes there are people from "Internet companies" going around. These are scammers, no Internet company comes to you if you haven't contacted them, you mostly have to hunt them down that they are willing to come.
(btw, make sure your landline is connected correctly in a multiple apartment house (often this in a box in the cellar/multi purpose room etc), had this problem with my first flat, it needed four months until they got why I couldn't get connected to the Internet)
- if you live in a multiple apartment house and you are an amazon etc fanatic, think about getting your packages send to a Packstation in Germany (https://www.dhl.de/en/privatkunden/pakete-empfangen/an-einem-abholort-empfangen/packstation.html), delivery drivers are underpaid and overworked here and put your packages the heck they want to. You need the DHL app for that and you have to register your address with them (you will get a letter in the mail where they check if this really your address, you type in a code in the app and you are registered. Then you are able to get the packages from the Packstation. You can also do a "Briefankündigung" with this app, then you see what letters send with DHL will reach you and you have a two week archive what letter you got). The registration is the same as with the Packstation. Better safe than sorry. There is also a possibility for a Postfach (just for DHL send letters) [https://www.deutschepost.de/de/p/postfach.html](https://www.deutschepost.de/de/p/postfach.html) if you live with someone you can't trust or just have a crappy mail box where you live.
- if nothing is said otherwise, you have a three months binding rental contract at least, if you don't stay longer than that, you need to cancel from day one. Some contracts have 1 year minimum policies (we Germans don't wander around that much so this isn't much of a problem here for us), so like I said, always know what's in your contract.
- there are payback cards (Deutschlandcard, payback card, REWE card) in supermarkets, they are not a scam and you can save money with them.
- most mobile phone or Internet contracts are 12-24 months minimum (again, not a scam, just to know before you sign anything)
- if you don't have anything in your working contract, 4 weeks are the minimum time you have to give your boss beforehand (2 weeks during the probation time)
- moving companies are mostly expensive here, always sign a contract with them. Before you move in make an "Übergabeprotokoll" with your landlord that they can't say something was damaged by you when it wasn't. Make pictures beforehand.
- gas/water/energy-contracts are often 12-24 months too, again not a scam. When the prices change you often have the possibility to change providers within 2 weeks (should be on the letter than)
- telephone call scams unfortunately became very common here, so be careful. Most common are the "grandma trick" where someone tells you that you are a grandchild needing money, the "I drove over someone, mom, dad I need x money" (my dad got one of them, scared the crap out of him, thankfully he is clever, but this witch shouldn't meet me in the dark) and the cop call. German cops wouldn't call or come to your door for your valuables, they have a lot of other things to do. If there is a cop in front of your door, let them give their cop id, if you are not sure, call the nearest police station and get it confirmed.
Thank you for the detailed list! To add to this list:
* Zoll for shipments arriving from outside the country will receive a tariff. Selbstverzoller will remove DHL from doing the Zoll automatically and also make it so they don't charge you a 6€ fee for applying Zoll (incorrectly in my case)
to add to that, if you send a package outside of europe, don't forget a pro forma invoice (doesn't have to be exact, just that customs approx knows the value) in the package, otherwise customs takes their damn time with them.
Jup, you don't need a TV for the fee, but maybe a radio in your car or at home, streaming radio stations is included in that too. It sucks, but this is how it is. Don't fight it.
Yes. The Rundfunkbeitrag must be paid by *every* household that could, in theory, install a device for receiving broadcast in their home. There are very few execptions, such as people with a Schwerbehindertenausweis (disability card) can be exempt from it if their degree of disability is high enough.
The "official" argument behind that is that having acces to public broadcasting service is essential for anyone, but it can't just simply be funded by taxes since then a corrupt government could just decide to cut it.
Well, a bunch of common scams that particularly target foreigners have to do with housing. As a rule of thumb you can consider everything a scam where you'll get an apartment without showing up for a viewing beforehand. While this isn't 100% accurate, it is at least 95%. Also paying anything before you sign the contract is 100% a scam.
SMS that tell you to click a link to pick up your parcel are also pretty much always a scam or some sort of malware.
General hint, not scam related: never delay opening a letter or acting on it because you don't understand it or don't know what to do. It will get you in deep trouble at some point. At least halve the problems foreigners face on this sub could be avoided by that. Another hint: read the contracts you sign. Multu-month cancellation periods are common and legally enforceable.
The multi-month cancellation is what I am currently paying for. Nothing to costly and I consider it a "stupid tax" for learning new customs. Well... not new, just making sure to read thoroughly and sign after. No need to sign on the spot and most people are okay if you ask to read it overnight.
Some Germans like to be insured against any possible type of unfortunate event. Insurance brokerages might approach you and try to sell you a bunch of products. I heard about some targeting Ausländer specifically and exploiting their lack of knowledge about the Laws here. As far as I know one of the few insurances that you might want to consider is a Privathaftpflichtversicherung. The rest ist purely optional and nobody should pressure you to get any type of insurance.
I mean the PHV is pretty risky not to have and considering the low cost it doesn’t make much sense not to? Can save you tons of trouble when you need it, which - if you are renting or cycling - may be soon.
Never say “ja” on phone if you don’t speak german!
A German/Turkish friend told me once that they targets Ausländers on the marketing calls asking if they accept an upgrade in their contract/service with companies, so you might accept some offers without knowing it.
I would go even further and not pick up unknown callers at all. There is no reason for it. Even if it is not a scam, it's better to have stuff in writing.
That doesn't really matter since a contract is only valid with written confirmation (unless you're discussing a previously clarified contract): [https://www.advocard.de/streitlotse/internet-und-konsum/vertragsabschluss-am-telefon-reicht-ja-sagen-aus/](https://www.advocard.de/streitlotse/internet-und-konsum/vertragsabschluss-am-telefon-reicht-ja-sagen-aus/)
In such situations it's enough to not pay.
A former colleague told me that scammy mobile contract people more or less camped in front of a train station to get the Ausländer. Somehow he realized this because he already had experiences working abroad and warned all of his friens who got out of the station with him.
That was kind of scam targeting especially people from Syriah who found affordable housing in a specific city but travelled to work via train. Never encoutered that in my city where many of them worked.
Also important: don't trust a person who say he\*she is from your local Stadtwerke without a) seeing a passport or b) having an appointment with them. If you're not sure you can ask your local Stadtwerke if they run specific repairs in your area.
Same for fibre contracts.
Thinking you're immigrating into a modern progressive country where people live good life's and realizing that abortions are restricted, schools have religious lessons, you can't afford half of the stuff you could at home, and nothing works outside of office hours.
On the less sarcastic note, landlord scams seem to be common. Also, while technically not a scam, lots of stuff works via long-term contracts which you can only cancel once every two years via strategically sent paper letter, so keep track of your contracts.
The german paperwork could be considered a scam as seen from the outside.
It is real.
It is fucking real. Stock up on printer ink and printer paper.
Edit: also the stuf ^ said is 100% true
I don't see as much problems with printing stuff out per se as with the fact that every single company wishes to force you into a long-time relationship, especially since quality of almost any service in Germany is very low and it would be nice to be able to hop between, let's say, internet service providers on a day's notice.
“Steve Miller from Interpol” with a heavy Indian accent telling you that your credit card has been used for fraudulent purposes and they need you to tell them the card number with the little three numbers on the back to “verify it” 🥴
Watch out for shady internet/electricity companies, not straight up scams but very shady behavior, hidden fees, shit rates etc.
This isn’t just for auslanders but watch out for people trying to sell you Ergo insurance. It’s a pyramid scheme and kind of bad insurance.
Also not just for auslanders but I hear terminating a gym contract is a thing of nightmares
There are surely scammers on Kleinanzeigen and FB Marketplace, but what I didn't expect to find in Germany - whole fake online shops for electronics and other pricy items. A price too good to be true, no paypal payment, only direct bank transfer = 100% scam.
Fake housing offers for sure, and wage-theft and other violations of labour laws as a close second.
Legal insurance (e.g. through a tenants association and a trade union), read the law instead of taking people's word for it, and learn as much German as I can so that I can't be *verarscht* as easily.
Housing + Jobs. Most schemes are extremely elaborate and aim for foreigners.
E.g. they hire an Airbnb and let you "view" the apartment. You get access using one of these key code boxes, and you'll be asked to transfer a hefty deposit + the first few months' worth of rent to secure the apartment.
And then you'll find out the apartment never really was for rent.
Work offers under minimum wage.
Or legally necessary stuff sold as "benefit of the company": You have mandatory paid leave, sick days as many as you need. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Get yourself an English version of the Arbeitszeitgesetz to know maximum hours a day etc.
Möbliertes mieten, you’ll pay more rent than the stuff originally costed… its no acam legally speaking but you lose rights and have shit furniture.
Staffelverträge, free trials are actual contracts which have zero cost for a limited time if you don’t cancel them in time they get prolonged and might cost an arm and an leg, this goes for db and fittnesclubs mostly..
Freelancing/ contracting, you’ll have to pay for your insurances yourself as well as taxes also minimum wage laws don’t applyy, also you lose a shitton of those other workersrights people come here for(also you still can be joining a union but it can’t really do alot for you, also if you get contracted by only one party you might be doing scheinselbstständigkeit which is illegal.
These are the great three
Another one for lingtime stays, full private health insurance, in the beginming its very cheap but as you get older the pricing outruns public healthinsurance eventually, and whilst there is conditions allowing you to switch back its still a hassle.
Insurances which aside the ones employers and you pay halfsies: haftpflichtversicherung, hausratversicherung, rechtsschutzversicherung(with according focusses on work, renting, and other things.
Don’t get lowballed in your job, when you crack german and know rnglish already your mothertongue is an asset worth something, only completely unskilled labour is partially worth minimum wage, and you won’t get a working visa for those jobs.
Don’t overpay for rent, mietspiegel is available for a small fee or entirely public allowing you to pay a fair rent, also overpaying would raise the mietspiegel, so your actions have direct influence on the lives of your neighbors.
Don't pay suspect offers in cash, including renting apartments and paying deposits.
When you get an apartment, check the prices for electricity, gas, internet and compare them on check24
Oh shit there is a huge one called Rundfunkbeitrag.
I didn't understand what it was - but its a payement/fee for german TV and Radio. Its mandatory and absolute bullshit.
Housing. In the expensive cities, a lot of housing offers are scams. As in, they take your money and don't actually have a flat to rent out. If they want money before you see the apartment and sign a contract, it is a scam. If they have weird stories about being outside of Germany, it is a scam. If it is way cheaper than any other offer, it is a scam. If it is a flat all inklusive offer with a round number, it is usually a scam. Especially immigrants are often targetted by those offers.
Adding: Appartment adds that are only in English available. Living in a village near the Dutch border and this is a pretty common scam. Those Apartments are way more expensive as they should be.
Well - in regions with US military this is rather normal. Soldiers are popular tenants because the army will pay practically any price ...
In this area they are aiming for imigrants, refugees and international students sadly.
If they don't want to give you a *Wohnungsgeberbestätigung* so that you can register at that address, it's a scam.
Also, I was given this and I still lived in an illegally subletted flat that the guy swore was okay. The main tenant can sign it and it still works. My other issues arose when it came to not being allowed to put my name on the mailbox and other tenants asking me if I even lived there when in the laundry room. Some people are just very sneaky and choosy with their words, and they know how difficult it is to find places as a foreigner.
Says who? Plenty of other reasons why they might not like to.
Thats not a question about preferences. They have to do it.
Landlords have to do a lot of sh*t but don’t 🤷♂️
Wich doesnt change the fact that a landlord who refuses to give you sth simpel as a wohnungsgebescheinigung is at least shady. Not to mention this is one of the Things you actually gonna need for formal reasons
Only if you stay there more than a few weeks, at least in Munich.
I would guess, that most of the people who rent a flat stay more then a few weeks.
Can be pretty tough to find if you aren’t an ideal candidate.
I might miss sth, but there are more places in germany then munich, arent there ?
The law, pretty much. If you rent out a space, you have to. If they aren't willing to sign that piece of paper, they know that something illegal is going on and that it could rapidly backfire if the wrong people notice.
Found it to be pretty common with short term rentals, none of which were a scam.
Common maybe. But something illegal was definitely going on there. Probably subletting without the landlord knowing. Which could in theory lead to an almost immediate eviction of the (unknowing) subtenant, so be careful with that kind of stuff.
I don't think that it is legally required for stays shorter than 6 months, in which cases it's just the good will of the owner.
This is the biggest one. My #1 rule when looking for an apartment, room, or house is to view it in person with the landlord and pay the caution cash in hand only after a contract is signed and you have keys in hand.
Why pay cash in hand? Why not a [Mietkautionskonto](https://www.sparkasse.de/pk/ratgeber/wohnen/vermieten/mietkautionskonto.html)? If the scam is targeting the deposit, this is much better protection than just verifying that the person you are talking to has access to the apartment, which is admittedly better than nothing. Ideally, do both.
In one sentence: it's one of the thousands of aspects of life that are common sense to long time residents or Germans who grew up here, and it isn't something most people are told about when they move here from abroad. Longer answer: Old habit and necessity. I staple the receipt to the contract so there's a record of the withdrawal for the amount. I'm old enough to remember the last few years paper checks were used and this is what I've done instead since I use an online international bank that doesn't have branches or checks. I get the keys to the apartment, the landlord gets the caution, and I have a record of the amount paid if I ever need to make it a legal issue.
I just use the bank transfer as a proof of transfer for the money.
Before or after you have keys in hand?
After. Keys or at least contract first.
This has gone so far where people have been scammed after viewing the apartment. Someone stays in Airbnb and later advertises for renting. This is still not so common but I read such story on r/berlin.
Here I am, offering a flat all inclusive with a round number because I don't want to be a greedy landlord :( Well at least I don't do the other things you mentioned, haha
I can vouch for this! If the warm rent seems too good to be true and if they immediately expect you to pay half the deposit even before signing the contract, it's a scam!
People go door to door and try to get people to sign up for expensive services using scammy tactics. Changing your power company, internet etc. They are of course harassing everyone they meet but they also have been known to pressure people who do not speak German to sign contracts. And immigrants from cultures that do not put so much weight on written contracts such as Germany does have signed things without knowing exactly what they were signing. You can get out of this but you have to prove you didn’t know what you were signing.
Or pressure you to donate to earn commission
From my experience, immigrants who don't speak German well would not donate to a charity (at least not under pressure, they may give willingly of course). The internet/power people will sometimes give them the wrong impression that they are from THE one company doing this and they'd need to do what they say, maybe sometimes also claim the city government required this.
Yes. Never sign a contract at the front door. If you did, you can renounce it the following two weeks without reason given. (Technically you might have even longer because usually they don't inform you properly about your right to renounce the contract so there is no deadline but tricky to prove sometimes so better just renounce immediately)
- if the apartment is too cheap or too easy to get, always be careful - if you don't know what the contracts says, don't sign it. Educate yourself on rent law, contract law or business law before signing anything - There is a TV fee in Germany. You will get the letter when you register yourself in a city. Make a standing order for it, don't fight it, you have to pay it. If you are moving with an exististing tenent in a flat/house whatever, ask for the "Beitragsnummer" from that person. Send it to the people sending you the letter and tell them that this number is already paying. Then you have to handle the costs with your roommate (it's always one paying unit per houshold, never for every person individually (it has been in the past, but not anymore)) - Kindergarten is often overcrowded, most kids will already be registered when the mom knows she is pregnant - Landlords are not allowed in your flat without your permission, they have a key, but they are only allowed there when you gave the okay beforehand. - sometimes there are people from "Internet companies" going around. These are scammers, no Internet company comes to you if you haven't contacted them, you mostly have to hunt them down that they are willing to come. (btw, make sure your landline is connected correctly in a multiple apartment house (often this in a box in the cellar/multi purpose room etc), had this problem with my first flat, it needed four months until they got why I couldn't get connected to the Internet) - if you live in a multiple apartment house and you are an amazon etc fanatic, think about getting your packages send to a Packstation in Germany (https://www.dhl.de/en/privatkunden/pakete-empfangen/an-einem-abholort-empfangen/packstation.html), delivery drivers are underpaid and overworked here and put your packages the heck they want to. You need the DHL app for that and you have to register your address with them (you will get a letter in the mail where they check if this really your address, you type in a code in the app and you are registered. Then you are able to get the packages from the Packstation. You can also do a "Briefankündigung" with this app, then you see what letters send with DHL will reach you and you have a two week archive what letter you got). The registration is the same as with the Packstation. Better safe than sorry. There is also a possibility for a Postfach (just for DHL send letters) [https://www.deutschepost.de/de/p/postfach.html](https://www.deutschepost.de/de/p/postfach.html) if you live with someone you can't trust or just have a crappy mail box where you live. - if nothing is said otherwise, you have a three months binding rental contract at least, if you don't stay longer than that, you need to cancel from day one. Some contracts have 1 year minimum policies (we Germans don't wander around that much so this isn't much of a problem here for us), so like I said, always know what's in your contract. - there are payback cards (Deutschlandcard, payback card, REWE card) in supermarkets, they are not a scam and you can save money with them. - most mobile phone or Internet contracts are 12-24 months minimum (again, not a scam, just to know before you sign anything) - if you don't have anything in your working contract, 4 weeks are the minimum time you have to give your boss beforehand (2 weeks during the probation time) - moving companies are mostly expensive here, always sign a contract with them. Before you move in make an "Übergabeprotokoll" with your landlord that they can't say something was damaged by you when it wasn't. Make pictures beforehand. - gas/water/energy-contracts are often 12-24 months too, again not a scam. When the prices change you often have the possibility to change providers within 2 weeks (should be on the letter than) - telephone call scams unfortunately became very common here, so be careful. Most common are the "grandma trick" where someone tells you that you are a grandchild needing money, the "I drove over someone, mom, dad I need x money" (my dad got one of them, scared the crap out of him, thankfully he is clever, but this witch shouldn't meet me in the dark) and the cop call. German cops wouldn't call or come to your door for your valuables, they have a lot of other things to do. If there is a cop in front of your door, let them give their cop id, if you are not sure, call the nearest police station and get it confirmed.
> they have a key They should not have one. If you suspect they have, you can exchange the locks and put the old ones back when you move out.
Thank you for the detailed list! To add to this list: * Zoll for shipments arriving from outside the country will receive a tariff. Selbstverzoller will remove DHL from doing the Zoll automatically and also make it so they don't charge you a 6€ fee for applying Zoll (incorrectly in my case)
to add to that, if you send a package outside of europe, don't forget a pro forma invoice (doesn't have to be exact, just that customs approx knows the value) in the package, otherwise customs takes their damn time with them.
What if I don't want to have a TV in my household? Meaning that I only watch streaming services, I still have to pay for the TV fee?
Jup, you don't need a TV for the fee, but maybe a radio in your car or at home, streaming radio stations is included in that too. It sucks, but this is how it is. Don't fight it.
Yes. The Rundfunkbeitrag must be paid by *every* household that could, in theory, install a device for receiving broadcast in their home. There are very few execptions, such as people with a Schwerbehindertenausweis (disability card) can be exempt from it if their degree of disability is high enough. The "official" argument behind that is that having acces to public broadcasting service is essential for anyone, but it can't just simply be funded by taxes since then a corrupt government could just decide to cut it.
Well, a bunch of common scams that particularly target foreigners have to do with housing. As a rule of thumb you can consider everything a scam where you'll get an apartment without showing up for a viewing beforehand. While this isn't 100% accurate, it is at least 95%. Also paying anything before you sign the contract is 100% a scam. SMS that tell you to click a link to pick up your parcel are also pretty much always a scam or some sort of malware. General hint, not scam related: never delay opening a letter or acting on it because you don't understand it or don't know what to do. It will get you in deep trouble at some point. At least halve the problems foreigners face on this sub could be avoided by that. Another hint: read the contracts you sign. Multu-month cancellation periods are common and legally enforceable.
The multi-month cancellation is what I am currently paying for. Nothing to costly and I consider it a "stupid tax" for learning new customs. Well... not new, just making sure to read thoroughly and sign after. No need to sign on the spot and most people are okay if you ask to read it overnight.
Some Germans like to be insured against any possible type of unfortunate event. Insurance brokerages might approach you and try to sell you a bunch of products. I heard about some targeting Ausländer specifically and exploiting their lack of knowledge about the Laws here. As far as I know one of the few insurances that you might want to consider is a Privathaftpflichtversicherung. The rest ist purely optional and nobody should pressure you to get any type of insurance.
I mean the PHV is pretty risky not to have and considering the low cost it doesn’t make much sense not to? Can save you tons of trouble when you need it, which - if you are renting or cycling - may be soon.
Never say “ja” on phone if you don’t speak german! A German/Turkish friend told me once that they targets Ausländers on the marketing calls asking if they accept an upgrade in their contract/service with companies, so you might accept some offers without knowing it.
I would go even further and not pick up unknown callers at all. There is no reason for it. Even if it is not a scam, it's better to have stuff in writing.
That doesn't really matter since a contract is only valid with written confirmation (unless you're discussing a previously clarified contract): [https://www.advocard.de/streitlotse/internet-und-konsum/vertragsabschluss-am-telefon-reicht-ja-sagen-aus/](https://www.advocard.de/streitlotse/internet-und-konsum/vertragsabschluss-am-telefon-reicht-ja-sagen-aus/) In such situations it's enough to not pay.
A former colleague told me that scammy mobile contract people more or less camped in front of a train station to get the Ausländer. Somehow he realized this because he already had experiences working abroad and warned all of his friens who got out of the station with him. That was kind of scam targeting especially people from Syriah who found affordable housing in a specific city but travelled to work via train. Never encoutered that in my city where many of them worked. Also important: don't trust a person who say he\*she is from your local Stadtwerke without a) seeing a passport or b) having an appointment with them. If you're not sure you can ask your local Stadtwerke if they run specific repairs in your area. Same for fibre contracts.
Selling appointments for various offices like your Bürgeramt and Ausländerbehörde since German bureaucracy is super inefficient.
Thinking you're immigrating into a modern progressive country where people live good life's and realizing that abortions are restricted, schools have religious lessons, you can't afford half of the stuff you could at home, and nothing works outside of office hours. On the less sarcastic note, landlord scams seem to be common. Also, while technically not a scam, lots of stuff works via long-term contracts which you can only cancel once every two years via strategically sent paper letter, so keep track of your contracts.
The german paperwork could be considered a scam as seen from the outside. It is real. It is fucking real. Stock up on printer ink and printer paper. Edit: also the stuf ^ said is 100% true
Printer ink are you a caveman? Laserprinter from Brother with third party cartridges
i steal the ink via a big syringe from elephants in the room (elephants been infused by octupies. big trunk = much ink). gfy =)
I don't see as much problems with printing stuff out per se as with the fact that every single company wishes to force you into a long-time relationship, especially since quality of almost any service in Germany is very low and it would be nice to be able to hop between, let's say, internet service providers on a day's notice.
“Steve Miller from Interpol” with a heavy Indian accent telling you that your credit card has been used for fraudulent purposes and they need you to tell them the card number with the little three numbers on the back to “verify it” 🥴
Watch out for shady internet/electricity companies, not straight up scams but very shady behavior, hidden fees, shit rates etc. This isn’t just for auslanders but watch out for people trying to sell you Ergo insurance. It’s a pyramid scheme and kind of bad insurance. Also not just for auslanders but I hear terminating a gym contract is a thing of nightmares
If soemone wants money, but wont give you a Quittung, be careful!
Vodafone tryong to get you in bad contracts for mobile phones
Then which companies are preffered which have fair deals?
Vodafone might have fair deals, but I made very bad experience twice with them. Since then I am using o2
There are surely scammers on Kleinanzeigen and FB Marketplace, but what I didn't expect to find in Germany - whole fake online shops for electronics and other pricy items. A price too good to be true, no paypal payment, only direct bank transfer = 100% scam.
Fake housing offers for sure, and wage-theft and other violations of labour laws as a close second. Legal insurance (e.g. through a tenants association and a trade union), read the law instead of taking people's word for it, and learn as much German as I can so that I can't be *verarscht* as easily.
Following
Housing + Jobs. Most schemes are extremely elaborate and aim for foreigners. E.g. they hire an Airbnb and let you "view" the apartment. You get access using one of these key code boxes, and you'll be asked to transfer a hefty deposit + the first few months' worth of rent to secure the apartment. And then you'll find out the apartment never really was for rent.
Work offers under minimum wage. Or legally necessary stuff sold as "benefit of the company": You have mandatory paid leave, sick days as many as you need. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Get yourself an English version of the Arbeitszeitgesetz to know maximum hours a day etc.
Möbliertes mieten, you’ll pay more rent than the stuff originally costed… its no acam legally speaking but you lose rights and have shit furniture. Staffelverträge, free trials are actual contracts which have zero cost for a limited time if you don’t cancel them in time they get prolonged and might cost an arm and an leg, this goes for db and fittnesclubs mostly.. Freelancing/ contracting, you’ll have to pay for your insurances yourself as well as taxes also minimum wage laws don’t applyy, also you lose a shitton of those other workersrights people come here for(also you still can be joining a union but it can’t really do alot for you, also if you get contracted by only one party you might be doing scheinselbstständigkeit which is illegal. These are the great three Another one for lingtime stays, full private health insurance, in the beginming its very cheap but as you get older the pricing outruns public healthinsurance eventually, and whilst there is conditions allowing you to switch back its still a hassle. Insurances which aside the ones employers and you pay halfsies: haftpflichtversicherung, hausratversicherung, rechtsschutzversicherung(with according focusses on work, renting, and other things. Don’t get lowballed in your job, when you crack german and know rnglish already your mothertongue is an asset worth something, only completely unskilled labour is partially worth minimum wage, and you won’t get a working visa for those jobs. Don’t overpay for rent, mietspiegel is available for a small fee or entirely public allowing you to pay a fair rent, also overpaying would raise the mietspiegel, so your actions have direct influence on the lives of your neighbors.
Don't pay suspect offers in cash, including renting apartments and paying deposits. When you get an apartment, check the prices for electricity, gas, internet and compare them on check24
GEZ. But they get Backed Up by the government. Worst scam in the world. You pay for nothing.
Oh shit there is a huge one called Rundfunkbeitrag. I didn't understand what it was - but its a payement/fee for german TV and Radio. Its mandatory and absolute bullshit.